Can We Talk?
by stewbert141
Summary: Naruto and Ino are asighned a mission together, much to their displeasure. Will the mission tear them apart or will it eventually bring them together? NaruIno NarutoxIno
1. Chapter 1

Ino had been preparing for her first A ranked mission in at least a month. She'd been packing and resting for about a week. She was excited to finally get out of the village but then found out her two teammates came down with illnesses.

"Of course you two idiots got sick on the day of our first A-ranked mission since we fought Kakuzu and Hidan!" Ino screamed.

"Well, first off Ino, not to anger you but you and I didn't fight either of them, remember Naruto destroyed that Kakuzu freak. Secondly, we can't control when get sick." Choji said as flames appeared in Ino's eyes as she gave him a death stare. She then resorted to putting her hands on her hips realizing that what he said was true.

"You women are such a drag..." Shikamaru said.

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOTS!" Ino screamed at the two.

"If you really care so much about a mission the just go to the Hokage's office, I'm sure she has a replacement." Shikamaru said.

"Fine, thanks for nothing you two." said the platinum blonde as she walked out the door and made her way to the Hokage's office. How could they do this to her. Forcing her to pair up with complete strangers. Well at least she could get out of the Village and avoid working at the family flower shop. She entered into the Hokage's building and headed to her office. She said hello to Shizune before entering, since Tsundae was expecting her.

"Ah, Ino I was expecting you, I heard about Shikamaru and Choji and I found you a replacement."

"Pardon me for interrupting but "A" replacement, shouldn't I have two others since its an A-ranked mission." Ino asked in a concerned tone.

"The person I chose can give your squad the amount of people needed to form a small army." Tsunade said causing Ino to gasp, who could it be?

"Aww, thanks Granny, that means a lot coming from you!" Naruto said emerging from the shadow in the back of the office. Ino groaned, no, anyone but him. Ino and Naruto never got along, to say the least. The only memories Ino had of him were constant arguing and him acting like an idiot. Almost everyone else, including Shikamaru and Choji were friend with him. In fact, Shikamaru was really good friends. She never managed to understand why everyone could like such a childish person.

"Danmit Naruto, show some respect, she's the Hokage." Ino shouted while hitting him over the head.

"Ouch, gosh, calm down Ino!" Naruto shouted at the blonde. He hated her guts, but he had to admit, she was gorgeous, her blond hair and gorgeous blue eyes. Any guy in Konoha would go out with her, not that he stood much of a chance with her. She hated him and he knew it quite well, it was pretty obvious.

"As you two know, this mission's goal is to gather information, I want you to spy on the sound village and see if they are mobilizing ninja at all. This is very dangerous but I believe you two can do it. Now hurry up and get going." Naruto and Ino then exited the building.

"This should be fun " said Naruto with a large smile appearing on his face. '_Yeah for you_' Ino thought, dreading the upcoming mission as she looked at that obnoxious smile that made her want to clobber him.

o0o

Ino and Naruto left the village and began darting through the trees. It was a two-day trip till they entered sound village territory. The two didn't get along and neither wanted to start a conversation. Ino didn't enjoy being around the hyper and overactive ninja. She had disrespected him since their academy days. The only reason she didn't criticize him anymore was that he had somehow become extremely powerful. This was recently proven when he single handily took down one of the Akatsuki, while saving her in the process. They had jumped through the trees for at least an hour when Naruto finally decided to break the ice.

"So Ino how have you been." he said while scratching the back of his head.

"Naruto…. shut up and lets focus on the mission" Ino obviously didn't want to talk with Naruto and would rather have her real team with her.

"Fine then, your always such a pain in the ass, why don't you try being nice every once in a while?" asked the annoyed blonde harried boy.

"Why don't you try acting mature for once Naruto, then people might actually respect you and Sakura might actually want to go out with you. Oh wait that's never gonna happen, after all, it hasn't in the past 5 years." Ino said with an obnoxious smirk.

"Well if were talking about respect here, you're not one to talk. All you do is go around bossing people around and yelling. You never train and only worry about stupid dieting. As I recall you use to criticize me 24/7 and I think I know the reason you stopped. Could it be that I killed the Akatsuki member almost single handily and saved your ass while you sat back and did nothing? Oh, yeah I think that might be it." Naruto screamed obviously annoyed with the platinum blonde.

"Fine, so your decently strong and you killed the Akatsuki guy, at least three-fourths of the village doesn't hate my guts because I'm such a nuisance." Ino said laughing obnoxiously. She then looked over at Naruto as she smiled arrogantly, obviously thinking she had won the argument. Then fear ran through her entire body. Red chakra flew through the air as it engulfed. His light blue eyes turned blood-red and fangs began to appear from his teeth. He then jumped right next to her faster than she could ever imagine, he then grabbed Ino and shoved her against a tree trunk.

"Listen you little princess, don't you dare bring up the village hating me in my presence ever again or I will rip you to shreds. Do you know why the Akatsuki wants me so bad, huh do you?" Naruto yelled at her. She stared into his eyes in complete terror As a cloak of chakra began covering his body. Her mouth fell wide open as she remained pinned to the trunk of the tree. She wanted to run but she was paralyzed in fear.

"I see, the princess has no idea what I go through. Isn't that so Ino? It's funny how you say that they hate me because I'm a nuisance, it's actually just stupid in ignorant coming from a girl who grew up with parents and people who cared about you. You have no clue what I go through on a daily basis you ignorant fool!" Ino sat down and put her hands over her face to shield her eyes from the complete terror before her as tears began pouring down her face.

"Oh did I scare you Ino? Well now you know why all the villagers want to kill me. I have this stupid demon fox inside me!" Naruto's face was now right in front of hers. She looked up at his face covered in a cloak of red chakra. Fangs replaced his teeth and his eyes were blood-red, as complete terror ran through her body. She then tightened her fist and looked as it connected to his right cheek at full power causing her to smile, thinking she had gotten a good hit on him. She became even more terrified as the punch was stopped immediately by the cloak of chakra. A giant smile appeared on his face revealing the set of fangs causing her to shiver in fear.

"Oh, look who decided to finally become a ninja and fight. Thats still a pretty pathetic punch princess, let me show you some true power." Naruto drew his arm back and punched the tree right above her head. Ino screamed in terror expecting to feel the impact of a punch. She looked up to see Naruto's arm completely though the tree. He removed his arm as the tree fell. Ino looked back down crying in terror.

"Don't ever say that again, got it princess!" Naruto barked at her as Ino nodded her head, unable to speak or move with tears still running down her face. She then watched as the cloak disappeared and his teeth and fangs went away. She continued crying, still in complete terror. Naruto began to calm down and realized what he had just done.

"I… I guess we'll set up camp here.." Naruto said calmly, feeling somewhat bad about what he did. But then again she deserved it. Naruto stood up and began walking to open patch of grass where there weren't as many trees.

"I guess I can now definitely count you as part of the three-fourths of the village that hates me." he said while smirking


	2. Chapter 2

Hey everyone, here is chapter 2, chapter 3 will be up really soon. 2 and 3 probably should be 1 chapter but I decided to split them up. The story has been more popular then I expected it to be. This is my first story I've ever written so I would really enjoy some reviews about how I'm doing with the story and what I need to improve on. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it.

I do not own Naruto in at all.

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Ino stayed sitting in the same spot most of the night. Terrified about what she had just saw. Naruto didn't even apologize or attempt to say anything to her. She watched as he made a fire and cooked two bowls of ramen. He created a shadow clone and sent to give Ino her ramen, he didn't even want to look at her. He placed it to the side of her. The clone then disappeared. Naruto then threw her sleeping bag and her backpack at her which landed in front of her curled up legs. Ino still hadn't moved and her mouth was still wide open in shock and terror. She then watched Naruto fall asleep as she sat there, terrified but angry. How dare he terrify his teammate like that. Yeah, she did insult him but so did he. He had just exposed her to the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.

Ino decide she was going to get revenge for this. She didn't care what she said to anger him, she didn't deserve that terror. She was going to use her mind transfer jutsu and take over his body. She thought about making him stab himself or do something embarrassing, she really didn't know. All she new is that she wanted revenge on that terrible excuse for a person Naruto.

"Mind Transfer Jutsu," she whispered. She became dizzy as her body slumped to the ground, as her spirit left her body. She felt her spirit leave her body as she flew into Naruto. She felt a slight tingle as she realized Naruto's body was hers.

Then she felt a powerful thud as a large chakra forced slammed into she felt herself loosing control of the body. She fell through blackness until she hit ground. When she sat up she saw large metal bars with a seal in the middle. She stood up to realize that water covered the floor. She heard the constant dripping of water hitting the ground. This wasn't normal when entering a person's mind, that was for sure. Behind her was a long hallway which she figured was the passage to his brain, where his memories were being stored.

'What is going on?' she thought. 'Why is there a huge cage in front of me?'

"**Well, well, well, a visitor…" **a voice said in an evil tone. She slowly walked up to the cage, hoping to see where the voice was coming from. As she got close she became terrified at the site of two large blood-red eyes, similar to the ones tha Naruto had earlier. Then a full set of razor-sharp fangs appeared forming a large smile. Ino began trembling, she knew what was behind the cage. She just couldn't believe it. She was in front of the most powerful and evil being in the world, the nine tailed fox. She'd learned about the attack back in the academy and heard about its power and size but she never expected this. Nothing taught at the academy about the fox prepared her for the site before her eyes. Ino tried to back away but was once again to scared to move. She trembled at the site of the fox. She barely managed to keep herself from collapsing to the ground.

**"I'll have to thank the brat. Maybe I can finally get a meal, after all it has been 17 years since I ate. " **said the fox while chuckling, obviously amused with the trembling blonde in his presence. The obnoxious one who had caused his host to lose it. Although the fox refused to admit it, he did care about his host a little. He had tremendous respect for the boy who dealt with such extreme amounts of pain and misery in his childhood but some how persevered and was able to become a quite formidable enemy. However, that didn't mean he enjoyed being sealed within him.

Ino tried to release her jutsu but it wouldn't work. 'I need to get out of here right now' she thought as she tried to move. Despite her strongest efforts she continued to tremble in fear, still unable to move.

"**What do you want you ignorant human," **the voice growled as she continued to try to release the jutsu. **"You can't escape, Yamanaka. The only way you can leave is either to get to the other side of this cage or for the kit to let you leave."**

"H….how do you….know who I am?" Ino questioned, confused about how the demon king knew who she was.

"**I see and hear everything my host hears…. what you said hit him pretty hard, you let me have some FUN" **the voice chuckled darkly. A claw shot out of the cage attempting to crush her. The realization that she would be killed caused her to regain control of her body. She quickly jumped back as far as she could to avoid the giant red claw. **"I'll do my host a favor and kill you. One less person to cause him pain, maybe for such a kind action he'll let me out for more fun," **said the Kyubi said as he continued to chuckle. This caused Ino to think about how he instantly changed when she talked about the villagers hating him. That was what made him snap. 'They must really have treated him badly for him to get furious like that' she thought. 'No, he must be over reacting, trying to get attention or sympathy'. Afterall, he was the knuckle head ninja, always cheerful, he couldn't have been treated that badly. She turned around and headed towards the hallway to see Naruto's memories. She knew that she had to get away from the fox, it wasn't safe and it definitely wasn't an enjoyable experience.

"**I wouldn't do that, the only thing down that hall is pain and misery, those even make me shiver sometimes."** The idea of seeing Naruto's memories made Ino wonder about her best friend's teammate. Everyone else in her age group seemed to acknowledge him as a friend. He was definitely well renowned for being one hell of ninja. After witnessing his rasen-shuriken jutsu, she definitely couldn't deny that. 'Why not figure out more about him, it could help me get revenge on him. How could he allow me see that monster in there.' she thought. Ino's encounter with the fox definitely hadn't helped making her less angry. The more she thought about the encounter, the angrier she got with the blond jinchuriki.

She continued walking down the hallway ignoring the fox's warnings. Maybe she could find some embarrassing memories or secrets about the young man. She thought about what the fox said about only finding misery. 'It couldn't have been that bad, I mean I lived with Sasuke's rejection and have gotten injured before, my sensei even died, his pain can't be much worse. Sure he has the fox in him but that couldn't have brought too much pain to him. ' she thought as a smirk appeared on her face. She would make Naruto would regret the day he threatened Ino Yamanaka.

Ino walked up to a large door and pushed it open. A loud squeak echoed throughout Naruto's mind. As the door opened she could see Naruto's brain. She walked up to it and placed his her hand into his brain. She applied chakra to her hand allowing her to push her hand into the brain and start going through memories. The second she put her hand into his brain the memories began hitting her.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone, here is chapter 3, thank you so much for all the views. I would really appreciate some more reviews, I've only received a few ask I really don't know what I should improve on. I could also really use some ideas. Sorry I posted the chapter late, I've been busy with family so here it is.

* * *

As soon as Ino placed her hand into Naruto's brain memories flew through her mind at a rapid pace, in taking mass amounts of knowledge in seconds. She began with memories from his childhood. She found out that Naruto never had parents, he was an orphan from birth and grew up in the orphanage. She saw everything he remembered from his childhood. The first memory he had made Ino cry instantly.

In the first memory Naruto was beaten by a mass mob of villagers and a few ninja. She saw and felt every bit of it. The punches, the kicks, the burn marks, everything. It was terrible. The worst part about it was he was only 5 years old. She watched on as the villagers laughed and beat him as she began crying. After about an hour of constant abuse of the child the villagers felt as if their job was accomplished.

"Take that Kyubi brat!"

"Do us all a favor and die!"

"No one loves you."

"We'll be back every week!" yelled the villagers. As the crowd dispersed Ino could finally make out a small blond-haired boy. The five-year old Naruto laid curled up in a ball quivering in fear as tears poured down his face. Blood poured out of his nose and right cheek and black and blue marks could be seen on his face. There were kunai marks across his arms along with burn marks. He was losing tons of blood but the fox seemed to be the only thing keeping him alive. Tears poorer down her face as she stared at the young Naruto. She wished she could run and help him and comfort him.

"Why...why do they hate me..." the young blond said while sniffling. Ino looked on, waiting for someone to come and help him, but no one came. he sat there on the street the rest of the night. He curled up in a ball and slowly drifted off to sleep as he continued to bleed from his wounds that were slowly healing. 'H..How can this possibly happen...TO A CHILD!' she thought completely shocked about this event as tears rolled down her eyes. 'Well...Well at least this is only a one time thing... people probably stopped after this.'

Unfortunately for Ino, memory after memory contained much of the same occurrences. From the age of 5 to eight Naruto was constantly beaten and severely injured and no one did a thing about it. The only person who seemed to care about him was the Thrid Hokage for some reason. Yet even he couldn't stop the hell that Naruto went through every day. Each memory hit Ino hard, causing her to sink farther and farther into sadness. By the time he was about to enter the academy she felt as if she wanted to kill herself from the extreme amounts of pain she'd seen. 'How does he keep going?' she thought.

Memories of the academy began occurring as she began remembering the good times she had when she was there. She remembered Naruto constantly laughing and pulling pranks in class. 'He must have gotten better in the academy, he was always smiling.' she thought which slightly lifted her mood. Unfortunately it was only short-lived as more memories of sadness occurred. She saw and remembered all the pranks he pulled. They would get small laughs and he would get yelled at for a short time, she began wondering why he continued to do them. Then th realization hit her, he just wants someone's attention..."

She then began seeing pickup time at the academy after classes. Almost everyday was a vivid memory of him sitting on the single swing in front of the academy. it was the same thing every single day. He would sit on the swing while everyone got picked up. He sat there and eventually walked home, often getting attacked and always getting verbally assaulted. Ino continued to cry at the memories of his painful childhood.

The next pain he suffered was the constant verbal abuse he received from his teamates. She saw how Naruto loved Sakura and every time he asked her out she rejected him and called him a "Baka" or "Dobe". He acted like it didn't affect him but she saw how much it hurt him. He would go home and just sit in his room after each rejection. Ino couldn't understand how he could continue to love her but time after time he would ask Sakura out and she would simply reject him. Most of the kids in their class were mean to Naruto, including herself as they constantly insulted him. She cried over how he was treated, no one paying attention to him besides Iruka.

"I...I wish I knew how he felt...I could have been nicer.." She said while sniffling. Any idea she had about Naruto's life not being as bad as hers were completely destroyed by this point. Her life was like a walk in the park compared to his. He had no one to care for him, or listen to him, instead he had his apartment and constant beatings.

She then saw all of his battles. She saw Naruto defeat Haku and Zabuza. She saw him beat Kiba and Neji. He finally got a little respect and attention for his skills. She saw him fight Orochimaru, Kabuto, Itachi, Kisame and Kakuzu. He'd battled more dangerous enemies in his young life then she would probably ever face in her entire life. He wasn't as strong as any of ten but he managed to hold his and even deal severe damage to them due to his sheer determination.

She saw his fight with Gaara. She gasped at the site of him summoning the head toad Gamabunta. She saw him save Sasuke and Sakura from the jinchuriki of Shukaku. She felt his pain in fighting someone who felt exactly as he did. Despite the fact that they were fighting each other, he cried for his enemy. He felt terrible for fighting someone who went through the same hell that he went through. Despite them trying to kill each other, Naruto still considered him to be his friend by the end of the battle.

She saw his last battle with Sasuke. She felt each blow as Naruto caught desperately to bring his friend back. She watched as Naruto collapsed, failing to defeat Sasuke. She felt his pain when returning home. Failing to fulfill his promise to the one he loved. She saw how it haunted him every day. His best and one of his only friends, gone, and he couldn't do anything about it.

She saw the training trips with Jiraya. How he trained almost every day until exhaustion. He always trained to gain the approval of others. he wanted to save Sasuke and prove to everyone that he was someone worth paying attention to. The second that Ino finished seeing Naruto's memories she collapsed as she bawled he eyes out. She had never even imagined that he went through so much. She thought that she had a hard life, but Naruto went through a living hell every day of his life.

She then felt his pain when Jiraya died recently. One of the few people who he loved and who accepted him had died. She looked back at how much he meant to him him, and how this must have hurt extremely bad. Yet, no one comforted him except for Iruka and Shikamaru. Not even Sakura had said anything. She wasn't any better,Ino hadn't even known his sinsei had died, thats how oblivious she was to Naruto.

She managed to gather herself enough to walk back down the hallway to the Kyubi's cage. When the Kyubi saw Ino again, he laughed evilly. She collapsed to her knees, trembling as tears poured down her face. She didn't even care that she was stuck in Naruto's mind, none of her troubles concerned her. The only thing in her head was the thought of Naruto.

oOo

Naruto snuggled into his sleeping bag, he was exhausted from the journey and his encounter with Ino. He looked over at her, she was sitting up and just staring straight at the ground. He snuggled back into his sleeping bag and tried to go to sleep.

Sure, he'd pissed off Ino and nearly scared her to death, he mused... but she deserved it.

He drifted blissfully into sleep, pulling his black sleeping cap more snugly onto his head as he curled up in the sleeping bag. He then felt a pulse of energy enter his body for a split second, but then the feeling was gone.

He then entered into what seemed like a very clear dream he thought. He knew he was dreaming because Ino was crying. Not only that, but he was in front of the stupid fox's cage in his boxers. He began thinking how weird his dream was when he realized he had never once had a dream in front of the fox's cage. Then the realization hit him, he knew where he was. He was in his mind. The rotten Ino used her mind transfer technique to try to takeover his body.

"What the hell?" Naruto muttered, scuffing his bare foot on the water as he cast his eyes around. "Ino why the hell are you in here?"

"Naruto! I'm sorry!" As the tall blond girl tackled him. She cried into his shoulder as she let out a muffled sentence. "I should have been nicer! I didn't know!"

"Of course you didn't, no one does." Naruto said, sadly. He slowly patted the girl on the back, torn between the twin urges to throw his arms around and give her a firm hug and pushing her away. "C...Can you forgive m..me. Give me another chance?" She asked as their eyes met.

Naruto remained silent as the gorgeous blonde bawled into his jacket. He didn't know what to say to her, he was still pissed at her but she was genuinely sorry. Then naruto felt a sharp pain in his left leg. He contemplated what it could be but then it hit him.

"Damn, looks like were under attack, Ino end your jutsu, we can finish this talk later." Ino slowly nodded her head, since Naruto was here she could end her jutsu safely. It would still take time return to her body but Naruto would cover her.


	4. Chapter 4

Here's chapter 4, thanks for all the views, I could really use some more reviews since I've only gotten two about the first chapter and nothing else. I would really appreciate it if you would review and say if you like it so far. even a "Good Job" would be nice (: the next chapter should be out in the next two or three days.

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Naruto awoke to sight of at least 40 ninja from the sound village. He activated his multi shadow clone jutsu, summoning 40 clones.

"Surrender, your completely out numbered and your pretty little friend there is out cold" said one of the sound ninja. It began raining as Naruto still looked at Ino's unconscious body. Even if she was awake this was a tricky situation. Naruto sent his clones to attack the enemy ninja. As they attacked he ran to Ino's body and took out a kunai to protect her. Rain poorer all over as she began shivering. After all, she was wearing just a mini skirt.

"Is that the best you can do kid?" Laughed the enemy ninja, with all his clones wiped out. He had managed to kill at least 5 of the enemy ninja but there were still at least 25 left. He then summoned 40 more and he along with the clones attacked. There was no way they could win this fight if he stayed back to protect Ino. He decided he would leave a shadow clone behind to guard her. They were fighting the highest level sound ninja, all jonin. Still Naruto's clones managed to take out another ten while the original Naruto took out at least 5 on his own using rasengan. The clones simply overwhelmed the many of the sound ninja. While he was fighting, the leader went to Ino's body. He was more skilled than the others and took out the clone with just taijutsu.

Then he took out a kunai, which got Naruto's attention. He slowly began to move his arm down to stab Ino but Naruto pumped enough chakra to his feet to allow him to jump on top of Ino's body. The knife went straight into Naruto's back as he let out a scream. The enemy leader was quite shocked he got there in time, but that knife should prevent from fighting anymore he thought.

o0o

She felt rain hitting on her head, her eyes still closed as she waited to get complete control back over her body. She kept her eyes shut for a little, reminiscing about Naruto's memories. She couldn't believe how she had misjudged him by such a large margin. She always thought he was a happy knucklehead ninja who simply wanted to become Hokage. She began moving her fingers slowly to test if she had fully gained control of her body. She was happy to feel that she did indeed have her body back. She then her what sounded like a poof and scattered clashes of metal.

She then opened her eyes to see Naruto bending over her. She was about to scream at him and call him a pervert. But then…. then he coughed up blood onto the grass in front of where she was sitting. She looked up and saw that he had taken a knife in his back… aprently to save her. She looked around and saw at least 20 dead bodies on the ground but at least another 20 up in the trees.

o0o

"Naruto!" Ino screamed as she saw him caught up blood. He had just saved her life, and was loosing blood rapidly. The sound ninja who stabbed him then took out another knife. He kicked Naruto over and placed the kunai right up to Ino's neck.

"Its a real shame that such a pretty girl has to die" the man said while smirking causing laughter from the rest of his comrades. Ino gulped fearing her now certain death. Then Naruto placed his hand onto the forearm of the man who stabbed him. Ino looked at Naruto in horror, how could he still be fighting. With his other arm he ripped out the knife from his back, with blood poring out of his wound. He twisted the mans arm so far back and with such force that it snapped. The man let out a blood retching scream of pain. With Naruto's other hand which held the knife that he had been severely injured with, he stabbed the man in the heart as he fell over. He then crawled in-front of Ino and whispered something in Ino's ear.

"Hey Ino, why don't you sit this one out, wouldn't want our princess getting injured now would we?." causing Ino to gasp as he laughed with blood coming out of his mouth.

"N..No Naruto your going to die, your already loosing too much blood!" Then suddenly two men through shuriken at Naruto. Unfortunately if Naruto moved they would hit Ino. Ino saw this happen, knowing that Naruto would receive even more injuries from this. She wanted him to move but he didn't. She looked on in terror as six shrunken hit Naruto in the back causing blood to splatter everywhere. 'He's going to die' she thought as more blood poured out of his back.

"NARUTO!" Ino screamed as tears began pouring down her face.

"Danmit Ino….I…think.. you owe me one now…". Naruto managed to sputter out with difficulty, obviously in pain from the multiple wounds.

"Naruto we need to get out of here now, your going to die if you keep this up!" Ino screamed but watched in terror as the boy stood up, blood running down his back.

"Look at this punk, guys shall I finish him off" an enemy ninja said causing wide-spread laughter. Many of the men took out shuriken and kunai.

"I'm afraid, Ino that I.. can't let you die here, your much too beautiful. Your much better suited to live than me. After all, three-fourths of the village hates me anyway." said Naruto said smirking, causing her to stare at him in disbelief. Did he just call her beautiful? Well it didn't matter because they were both going to die at this rate. He managed to summon three shadow clones as Ino looked on helplessly. He had just saved her life at least two times, and he was still fighting despite blood gushing out of his back. Naruto got two of the shadow clones as he began constructing the rasen-shuriken. The other clone took the impact of the shrunken and kunai to give the original Naruto time to complete the juts. How did he have chakra left she thought as she looked on. The enemy looked on in terror as they witnessed the swirling ball of chakra.

"Everyone, get back, now!" said one of the enemies. 'Theres no way he would be able to run it to them', they thought. She looked at him again, noticing that the jutsu was getting bigger and bigger. Much bigger then the one he used to kill Kakuzu. She then realized what he was trying to do, he was trying to make one large enough to wipe them all out when it expanded. The jutsu got bigger and bigger, as it was now wider then Naruto and half his size. He fell to one knee due to the immense amount of chakra. He's not gonna be able to throw it there she thought as the fear of death washed over her, she was going to die, and if she didn't Naruto certainly would. He was completely exhausted and loosing blood. In his current state there would be no chance of his abused body being able to throw that dense amount of chakra.

Then Naruto managed to stand up. She wondered what he would do now, they were finished. He then wound his arm back and managed through the swirling mass of chakra. One of the enemy ninja got off three shrunken going straight at Ino. She braced for impact but only felt the splatter of blood on her face. She opened her eyes to see Naruto lying on the ground. He had saved her again. 'I really am useless. Naruto was right, I'm weak and he's going to die because of me.' She then saw the rasen-shuriken expand. It engulfed the entire enemy force, ripping them apart as blood flew everywhere. Only one ninja escaped and he began running away. The blast impact would be coming soon so she immediately grabbed Naruto. The impact caused her to fly into the tree and cough up a little blood. The jutsu died down as a huge whole appeared in the forest as limbs and bodies fell into it, dead and motionless.

Ino looked on in aw of the devastation this juts caused, he truly was strong. She then remembered that Naruto was seriously injured. She saw a small puddle of blood forming around his body. She immediately pulled out the nine shrunken lodged into him. He didn't respond at all. He simply stared at the ground. She took off his shirt and luckily none of the shrunken hit vital spots but he had lost so much blood. He then heard him mumble something.

"I..Ino..get out…of..here..I'm going to d….d..die anyway." Tears began pouring out her eyes as she attempted to wrap the shuriken wounds in bandages.

"Na..Naruto, don't die!" Ino screamed as tears rolled down her face.

"Y..you've been crying… a lot this trip…huh? Well at least… you…m..mite not…hate me… as much " Naruto said as a grin slowly appeared on his face. This remind Ino of her fight with him which made her even more sad, if Naruto died now, there would be no chance of talking and apologizing to him. Ino then realized that they were still less than a days way journey back to Konoha, maybe she could make it in time to save him. She picked up his body and began sprinting as fast as she could back to the village.

o0o

Ino reached the Konoha gates in 5 hours of non stop sprinting. Once she got into town she looked for anyone familiar, she was about to collapse from exhaustion. She saw Kiba and screamed his name as loud as she could, she was exhausted. Naruto was unconscious and for all she knew, quite possibly dead.

"KIBA GET OVER HERE NOW ITS AN EMERGENCY!" Kiba slowly wailed over and saw Ino holding Naruto's body. He was covered in bandages that were soaked in blood and didn't have a shirt on.

"What the hell happened to him!" Kiba screamed, seeing the terrible condition he was in.

"TAKE HIM TO THE HOSPITAL AS FAST AS YOU CAN, NO TIME TO EXPLAIN HE'S ALREADY LOST TOO MUCH BLOOD!" Ino screamed before she collapsed due to chakra exhaustion. Kiba took the body and sprinted to the hospital.

When Ino woke up she found herself in a hospital bed. She slowly sat up and looked around and saw Sakura sitting beside her bed.

"You're okay! Thank god" Sakura screamed as Ino let out a small smile.

"What happened to you?" Sakura asked as Ino began remembering what happened.

"Well Nar… NARUTO, WHERE IS HE!" Ino screamed as a grim face appeared on Sakura's face. Tears appeared on Ino's face after seeing Sakura's expression.

"He's in the intensive care room, he's lost so much blood…. I don't know if he'll make it." Sakura said with a tear running down her face.

"He.. he saved my life Sakura. He literally took out an army of 40 sound ninja. He killed them all, the only reason he got injured was because he had to jump in front of the shrunken to save me… All I did was just sit there. this is all my fault." Ino said as tears began poring out of her eyes. Sakura gave her a hug attempting to comfort her, but she didn't know what to say.

Ino was released from the hospital the next day but she didn't leave. She stayed in Naruto's room for the next three days straight. She refused to leave even when Tsunade asked her to leave. She told Tsunade what Naruto did and she let her stay. Ino sat beside the bed every day just thinking about Naruto. About how despite how mean and terrible a person she was to him he still risked his life for her. She began thinking about his memories and about how no one was really close to him besides a few people. 'I'm going to be one of those few people who are close to him' she thought.

It was around six in the morning, a week after Naruto arrived in the hospital. He moved his head a little and slowly opened his eyes to sunlight coming through the blinds causing him to squint. She then saw the gorgeous platinum blonde Ino sleeping in a chair next to him, as he remembered what happened. He managed to move his arm to tap Ino's shoulder. She yawned and slowly opened her blue cerulean eyes. Naruto thought this a was adorable but then remembered his fight with the sound ninja and his fight with Ino. He wondered if she would apologize or just shrug it off, but quite frankly he didn't care too much. It was obvious she hated him, and probably more so now since she saw the fox.

"So am.. I … still alive?" Naruto asked confusingly. Last thing he remembered he was thinking he was going to die.

"N..Naruto-kun your…ALIVE!" Ino screamed in shock as she gave him a huge hug. Tsunade who had spent the night in the hospital sprinted in to see if it was true. She smirked at the site of Naruto's eyes opening. Naruto was shocked by this reaction. He was expecting a smile or something, but definitely not this much affection.

"I…I guess I am" Naruto said with a weak laugh.

"Naruto, I'm so sorry about everything I said, and going into your mind, I'm so extremely sorry. I'm sorry you had to fight the enemy by yourself and that you had to get injured to protect me!" Ino blurted the sentence out as tears came down her face as she continued to embrace him. As she cried she noticed him smiling slightly. She had to admit he looked pretty attractive in his weakened and mellow state, still shirtless to allow the wounds to get air to heal.

Naruto was wondering if she would apologize but this wasn't what he expected either. This was a genuine apology. She was crying, obviously concerned about her previous actions with himself.

"Ino… its fine I over reacted, the entire things my fault. I never should of shown you what I did, no one should experience that terror in their life…. you…have nothing to….apologize for." he said slowly as he drifted back to sleep. Ino stared at him speechless, how could he be so forgiving. She smiled a little and managed to say,

"Thank you, Naruto-kun" as she watched Naruto fall back to sleep.

Ino could no longer stay at the hospital since she was forced to go on a mission with her team. She left for the mission, while only thinking about the boy who had saved her life. She decided that when she got back she would sit down with Naruto and have a real conversation with him to show him how sorry she was. She also wanted to know why he always acted as if nothing affected him. She also had this strange feeling about the boy who saved her life. When ever she thought about him she felt warm. 'Could I be falling for Naruto?' she thought, she would definitely need to think about this more during her mission. But when she got back, she would definitely sit down and talk with the boy who saved he life.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey so here is another chapter. I really like the story and i just can't seem to stop writing. This chapter is leading up to the invasion of Pain. Once again I would love some reviews. I feel very proud of my self, I now have a whopping 4 reviews (: So heres the chapter, enjoy.

* * *

Ino returned from her week-long mission to the Village Hidden in the Sand. Immediately after she returned she decided she would go see Naruto and tell him how his friend, the Kazekage was doing. She had a brief discussion with him and Gaara has asked her to tell Naruto he said high. She went to his apartment and knocked on the door multiple times but heard no answer. She assumed he was out of the hospital but apparently he wasn't home. She then thought he might be training so she went to training ground 7 where he use to train with his team, but once again he wasn't there. She figured he must be with Sakura. The thought of Sakura made Ino cringe. How would she get him to notice her after he'd had a crush on Sakura for as long as anyone could remember. She continued to wonder whether or not she really cared if Naruto liked her as more than a friend. Sure he went through a lot, but she could do better than Naruto. 'There are plenty of guys who are better to date then him.' she thought. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that there wasn't anyone who she could think of.

Naruto was kind and always cheerful. He was definitely a strong shin obi. He was extremely protective of his friends and would do anything to protect them. Hell, he even risked his life to save me, someone who had always been cruel to him. He was good-looking, with well toned muscles and his blonde hair. She could look into his cerulean eyes for ever. It was unfortunate that she realized this after she went into his mind and almost caused him to die. Ino was walking towards the hospital and decided she would check his favorite restaurant just in case.

Ino looked in Ichiraku's and didn't see him there. Once she saw he wasn't there she continued walking towards the hospital. She recognized some of the people who were cruel to Naruto from his memories. She could never see them the same way after seeing what they did to the young boy. Ino walked into the hospital hoping to find the medical ninja prodigy. She walked into the waiting room and saw the pinket talking to other medics.

"Hey Sakura, have you by chance seen Naruto?"

"Actually I haven't seen him in the past two days. He must be training or something, try asking Tsunade." Ino thanked Sakura and walked out of the hospital. Instead of wandering around the village looking for him, she decided to ask Tsunade where he is. She walked to the Hokage's building and asked Shizune if she could see Tsunade. Shizune nodded and told her she could enter Tsunade's office.

"Hello Ino, can I help you?" the hokage asked curiously, Ino didn't have any mission assigned for today.

"Yes, have you by chance seen Naruto." Ino asked as a somewhat surprised face appeared on Tsunade. She paused and then answered.

"He's about to leave to do some training away from the village." Tsunade knew that the Akatsuki would come to Konoha soon to obtain one of the last 2 tailed beasts remaining, so she decided it would be wise to send Naruto to Mount Myoboku to train and become a sage, like Jiraya so that he could at least defend himself much better. Unfortunately she couldn't reveal the location of the training area for risk of Naruto's safety.

"Has he left yet, I really need to talk to him." Ino asked as Tsunade became more intrigued by her requests for Naruto. She knew Naruto and Ino weren't particularly close so she figured it must be because of the mission they recently had together.

"He may not have left yet but if he hasn't he will be soon." Tsunade said as she watched Ino dart out the door. She had to talk to him before he left, tell him how she was so sorry about how she had treated him. She sprinted across the rooftops of Konoha while it began raining. She neared the large gates at the entrance of the village and saw an orange jump suit. She knew this was him, after all he was the only one stupid enough to wear orange.

"Naruto!" She screamed hoping to get his attention before he left. Naruto turned wondering who would be calling him. He thought he had said goodbye to everyone, at least everyone who actually cared about him. He then saw the platinum blonde which caused him to be even more confused. Ino had hated him and had little to no respect for him throughout his academy days and obviously didn't enjoy him on their last mission together in which he scared her to tears. She had only recently stopped harassing him after he killed Kakuzu with the most powerful jutsu she had ever seen, the rasen-shuriken. He hadn't seen her since he talked to her briefly in the hospital when he accepted her apology.

"Hey Ino, what's up?" he said while he began scratching the back of his head.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second?" she asked as she glanced to the ground while biting her lower lip.

"I'm really sorry Ino but I have to go train, its extremely urgent." He said apologetically. He wanted to, this was the first time the gorgeous girl wanted to talk to him. But, Tsunade had said that there was no time for distractions and he had to leave immediately.

"Oh…. I understand." she said. Naruto could sense the hurt in her voice. He watched her stare at the ground as rain poured. She was soaked and only had her normal purple mini skirt and top on. She actually looked gorgeous as always, not that she would ever go for him.

"Hey don't you think it's a little cold and wet to not be wearing a jacket" he said while placing his hand on her shoulder as a small grin appeared on his face. She laughed a little as a small blush appeared on her face. She looked at him in the eyes, she never realized how blue they were. The rain caused his hair to flatten and she had to admit, he looked pretty good. He had gotten a lot more attractive since he returned from training with Jiraya, but at seventeen he had developed into quite the looker, she had just never noticed.

"Yeah, I guess so." she said with a small laugh. Then Naruto began unzipping his jacket revealing an all black rain immediately caused the shirt to press against his body revealing his chiseled physique. Ino blushed a little more seeing his muscular body. She then looked as Naruto placed the jacket over her shoulders. A shocked expression appeared on her face as she saw the small smile appear on his face. She wondered if he could tell she was blushing.

"Listen, I really need to go. But I promise, when I get back we can talk for as long as you want" he said in the calmest voice she'd ever heard from him. She was in what seemed like a hypnotic state as she stared at him with his jacket on her shoulders. All she could manage to do was nod with her mouth slightly open which caused another smile to appear on Naruto's face. He then performed what looked like a summing jutsu. Then two small frogs appeared and as soon as they appeared they disappeared with Naruto.

Ino just stood there in a state of shock. She then put her arms into the sleeves of Naruto's jacket and began walking back to her house. Was she falling for Naruto? No of course not, she just wanted to apologize to him, but he did look pretty good. No, no, no, she had to get those thoughts out of her head. How could she, the most beautiful girl in the village fall for Naruto. Yeah, what was she thinking.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey so here is the next chapter. It took longer to write because I really didn't enjoy writing it at all... its kind of a filler chapter leading into the next part of the story but I had to write it for the story to make sense. I expect the reviews to not be to kind with this chapter so please try not to be too cruel (: I know its boring and doesn't really have anything really new but it ties in different things to the plot.

Also from the reviews I've recieved, you guys want Ino to earn Naruto's love. I was planning on starting romance after this chapter but if you guys want me to make her earn it more after this chapter, just post a review and tell, if enough of you guys do so I'll put in some chapters for her to earn his love a bit more. If not the next couple of chapters will see some more romance.

So if you could review and tell me what you guys want that would be great. As I have stated earlier this is my first story and I'm only in high school so I would really appreciate reviews to help my writing so you guys can enjoy it more. I get back to school on monday, so this week I'll try and post as many chapters as I can before production slows down a little when school starts.

So once again, just review and tell me if you would like Ino to earn his love more , I've already written the next scene if you don't want to see her earn it more and I really like it so either way, just review and tell me what you want to read (:

* * *

It had been a two weeks since Naruto left and Ino couldn't stop thinking about him. She had worn his jacket every day since he left. It surprisingly smelt pretty good and was rather comfortable. It smelt like pine trees and wearing it gave Ino a sense of security for some reason. It made her feel safe. Wearing his jacket caused a lot of questions to come her way about her relationship with Naruto. She would struggle to come up with an answer, because she didn't know the answer. She didn't know what she thought about the blonde jinchuriki who had saved her life.

Her parents asked her this immediately when they saw her with the jacket. Her father was extremely curious. Although he had grown to at least manage to deal with Naruto, he still didn't want his princess in any relationship with the jinchuriki of the nine tails. Ino explained how he had just let her borrow it before he left to train somewhere since it was raining. Inoichi chose to drop the conversation but he had his doubts about what she said. He had a suspicion that she had some feelings for the blonde.

Sakura also seemed to be rather curious about the jacket Ino was wearing. Although she didn't have feelings for the jinchuriki, she did care for him as a friend. Sakura had been on the same team as Naruto for multiple years and she'd grown very close to the boy. She knew that he loved her and she liked knowing that she had him if things with Sasuke didn't work out. She counted on Naruto to bring Sasuke back to the leaf but the chances of that happening were becoming slimmer and slimmer. The thing that she needed from Naruto in order for him to get Sasuke back was his complete loyalty. If he still loved her and wanted to make her happy then she could get him to do almost anything for her. She knew this was shallow and cruel but it was what needed to be done to get Sasuke back. When she saw Ino walking through town with Naruto's jacket she thought her hold on Naruto might begin to loosen, but then again Ino wouldn't go for Naruto. She needed to at least find out why she had his jacket.

"Hey pig, nice jacket!" Sakura screamed at Ino, getting her attention.

"Forhead..." Ino responded, obviously not excited to see her friend. She knew the questions she would ask, she'd already answered the same one from at least 15 people today.

"So why are you wearing Naruto's jacket?" She asked curiously, knowing there was a story behind it.

"It was raining and Naruto gave me the jacket to protect me from the rain before he left to train." she said. After seeing Naruto's memories and how much Sakura had hurt him, she felt somewhat bitter towards her friend. She didn't think Sakura knew how much she hurt, but maybe she did.

"Well that's nice, but wasn't that two weeks ago before he left? Why do you keep wearing it?" She asked with a grin plastered on her face.

"Umm..Yeah...it was. It's just really comfortable..." Ino said as her eyes started staring at the ground, trying to avoid eye contact with Sakura.

"Hmmmm, if you ask me, I'd say you have feelings for that knucklehead. Is that true?" She asked as her grin grew bigger.

"WHAT NO! I would never like Naruto. I mean come on Sakura, let's be real." Yelled Ino, slightly startling her. Sakura thought she was being defensive but decide to drop the subject to avoid another huge argument.

"So Ino, where are you going?" asked Sakura.

"I'm going to go train with Kurenai-sensei" answered Ino. After Ino got out of the hospital from her mission with Naruto she decided she needed to get stronger. She had her family techniques but those took a long time to activate and required others to cover for her. She decided she needed to learn new jutsu. She didn't ever want to be helpless or cause or be a hindrance to anyone ever again. Kurenai was still pregnant but she showed Ino hand signs for different juts and gave Ino tips for practicing with them. Ino had learned two new juts and was working on mastering a third.

"You..training?" asked a shocked Sakura. She had never seen Ino training hard in her entire life. Ino smirked at her shocked expression.

"Yeah, well I've got to get going so I'll see ya around forehead." said Ino as she began walking away.

Sakura was still shocked that Ino was actually training. That mission with Naruto must have really changed her. `Her mind then changed thoughts and began focusing on her relationship with Naruto. Ino's response seemed convincing but she also sounded a bit defensive. She knew that Naruto had saved Ino but something else must have happened. She needed to know the details so that she could see what was going on between her two friends. Oh well, she would find out soon enough.

o0o

The next day Ino's father was called into the Hokage's office early that morning. Ino decided to wake up around 10 and walk around Konoha since she wasn't working or training today. She had been training for two weeks straight so she decided she could take a day off. She decided to put Naruto's jacket on again since it was early and a bit chilly. She stepped outside to see the packed city streets. It was a busy Saturday morning with villagers walking around buying goods and kids running around. She began walking down the main village road to go and buy some fruit for home.

As she continued walking down the streets she felt an extremely strong tremor and tons of screams. She then saw giant orange and black centipedes going through the streets, the village must be under attack she thought. The centipedes tore through the village streets killing anything in their paths. She then saw one coming down her street. She immediately dove into a house to get out of its path as it rampage down the street killing tons of civilians. She was terrified and wanted to just stay in the house. But then she remembered her fight with Naruto.'I'm not going to sit by and do nothing again' thought Ino.

She pulled out multiple kunai laced with explosive tags and jumped out of the house. She through them at the massive beast causing explosions all over its lengthy body. The beast began to fall to the ground. Two ANBU activated fire ball jutsus as the beast was dispelled in a poof. She knew that it was the Akatsuki who were attacking, and she knew what they were after, Naruto. After all they would be the only group or village willing to attack the leaf single handily. Luckily Naruto wasn't here so he wasn't in any immediate danger. Ino then decided to run through the street she was on and help the wounded. Ino was by no means great at medical ninjutsu but she was definitely passable. She would definitely be able to help some ninja and civilians with their injuries. After healing people for a while she saw Tsunade's summoning of Katsuyu the healing slug. It used its ability to separate into many mini slugs to heal citizens. When she saw this she realized her healing skills were no longer needed since then many miniature slugs would heal the injured. She then decided that most logical thing to do next would be to find Shikamaru and Choji and fight alongside them. She would stand no chance against a Akatsuki member by herself.

After standing on top a roof top she saw the destruction of the beloved village. Buildings war smoking and on fire throughout the village and bodies were scattered along streets. She ran atop roof tops attempting to avoid the invaders. If the invaders could do this much damage to the village it would be a good idea to avoid combat with who ever it was unless attacked. She then saw a familiar face lying on top of a pile of gravel, motionless. She then realized who it was as fear ran through her body. She checked for any vital signs but there were none.

"Shizune!" she screamed with no response. She attempted to perform some medical help on her but realized it was futile as tears began running down her face as she looked at her dead friend. She sat there with no one around her besides the Shizune's body. She looked around at the hopeless situation. A miniature Katsuyu appeared near her and confirmed Shizune's death. Ino sat there with that same feeling she had when she was on her mission with Naruto. She felt useless, as if she couldn't do anything. She couldn't help Asuma-sensei, Naruto or Shizune.

Ino then saw a body float up into the sky. She was wondering what he was doing but then she saw the center of the village start to be pushed outwards. The wave of debris began to fly towards Ino. She grabbed onto Shizune's body as debris flew at them. Luckily Katsuyu covered them from the debris as they became covered in it. After the push stopped she attempted to push debris above her off and pulled Shizune's corpse up as well. With the help of katsuyu they were able to push part of a large stone wall off them. She then turned around and saw the complete obliteration of The Village Hidden in the Leaves as tears began running down her face again, seeing the giant hole in the middle of the city . There were no buildings standing.

She continued staring at the hole when she saw a puff of white smoke.

o0o

"Its Naruto…" Katsuyu said as goosebumps ran throughout her body, and her face flushed. The

"No, tell him he has to leave, he's going to die, please Katsuyu!" Ino screamed as tears poorer down her face. How could Naruto stop someone who had destroyed the entire village.

"Ino, Naruto has mastered sage mode, something only Jiraya and the 4th Hokage have mastered, he may be the strongest person in the village." Ino got up and began running towards the battle.

"Naruto asked that no one interfere Ino, trust me he'll be fine." Ino took a deep breath and sat down as tears continued running down her face.

Katsuyu told Ino everything that happened. When she told Ino that Naruto killed one of the Pain's she gasped in shock. How had Naruto become so strong. Then two, there four and five pains were eventually downed. Ino was ecstatic.

"He…He's gonna win isn't he!" There was a long pause as Katsuyu didn't respond.

"I…I'm sorry to… to tell you this Ino but Naruto has been captured and Hinata was just nearly killed trying to protect him. Ino couldn't even speak. No, this couldn't happen. Naruto can't die. she never got to talk to him or apologize, or give him back his jacket. There was so much she wanted to say to him. Then all of a sudden she saw a swirl of red chakra and when she looked closer she saw a miniature nine tailed fox. She stood there in horror, watching Naruto turn into that demon. The final Pain ran out of the village as the battle between the Nine Tails and Pain continued.

o0o

Ino sat down near the village for what seemed like hours. Team Gai arrived but she said nothing. She simply sat there, completely lost in worry about Naruto. As she continued her thoughts, she began wondering when she became so concerned about Naruto. Sure she felt bad for him after her encounter with the fox, but when did he become the only thing she thought about. Maybe she really did have feelings for the blonde jinchuriki.

"Naruto has reached the eight tail and just broke free from Pain's strongest attack, soon he will fully transform." Theses words struck fear into her. She had encountered the terrifying creature when it was imprisoned and she could tell how much power it had. How strong would it be without being in bars.

"Wait..no…thats..thats not possible."

"What!" Ino screamed.

"He.. he changed back by himself and he.. he's ten-entered sage mode!" Ino shot up with a huge smile on his face. He could still pull this off. Ino listened intently to Katsuyu's description of the final battle. She was in aw of how Naruto used shadow clones to stop Pain's almighty push.

"Naruto just defeated the final Pain with a rasengan to his stomach, he won!" Every body began to cheer but there yells were overshadowed by a certain blonde kunoichi.

"Yes! Yes, Yes, Yes, thank god!" Ino screamed as everyone around her stared at her.

"What.. we just won..." She said slightly blushing as everybody stared curiously at her.

"He's now going to talk with the real Pain. Ino immediately fell down again, in shock.

"I..I thought he won."

"No, the six Pain's were being controlled by someone. Luckily his chakra is probably drained." Ino exhaled, slightly relieved. She was still pretty scared for the new hero who had managed to defeat all 6 Pain's, something the entire village combined couldn't do.

o0o

Ino waited for Katsuyu to tell her some information about what was going on, but she remained silent.

Then all of a sudden light green balls began shooting into people's bodies all over the village.

"What's..what's going on?" Neji asked.

"Naruto talked to the real Pain and he decided to revive everyone he had killed!" After these words Shizune slowly sat up. Many people who were alive looked on in disbelief as the dead came back to life.

"SHIZUNE, your alive!" Ino screamed giving her a huge hug.

"Whats going on? I thought I was dead?" Shizune asked as she accepted the hug from the crying blonde. Katsuyu explained how Naruto convinced the real Pain to revive everyone.

"Naruto is walking back now he should be at the outside of the village in 20 minutes!" Katsuyu said as Ino helped Shizune up. They began making their way to the forest clearing where Naruto would soon arrive.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey so I'm back at school so I'm loosing time to write, but I'll try to post at least 1 chapter per week at bare minimum, sorry for publishing so late. However for the fans of this story , I recently had the urge to write a new Naruto fix so I'm going to try and finish this story off rather soon. I'm not going to make the story as long as I was planning due to my urge to write my new story. I will still finish this story, and trust me I won't just make some crappy ending but it just simply won't be in as much depth as it could. I decided to start Ino's romance with Naruto now just too finish it up quicker. Sorry to all of you who won't like this but I just don't have the urge to write this story as much... so here's the next chapter!

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"Lets go greet him, he's so youthful." Lee suggested as team Gai, Ino and Shizune walked to where the entire village was waiting for Naruto. They waited for around twenty minutes. Ino thought about what she would say to him. Or if she should even say anything at all to him. She then saw Shikamaru and Choji and she ran over to them

"Shikamaru, Choji are you guys ok?"

"I've got a broken leg but that's it… this is such a bother" Shikamaru said as Choji laughed with him. Ino felt bad for her teammate but at least he was alive. Well, everyone was alive thanks to Naruto.

She then heard loud cheers as Naruto walked out of the forest on Kakashi's back. He looked completely exhausted. He was wearing a red cape and over his training suit. She guessed it was the sage wardrobe. There were clearly visible cuts and gashes on his body. He got off of Kakashi's back as kids swarmed him. She then saw Sakura walk up to him and give him a huge hug, causing Ino to cringe. She knew she still probably couldn't compete with her. During the fight Ino had realized she really did care about the young sage. While Naruto was fighting, she was the most concerned for him then she had ever been about anything. Him almost dying made her realize that losing him without talking to him about her feelings would crush her. She knew he probably wouldn't return her feeling but it was simply something she would have to do.

"He sure outclassed us." Choji said.

I…I think I could fall for him" Ino said

"WHAAAAT?" Choji and Shikamaru started being tossed in the air smiling. She thought back to his old memories and how he just wanted to be accepted. Well I guess he finally has she thought. After around 20 minutes of being thrown up and down he went into the crowd to say high to other friends. He said hi to Neji, Kiba, Lee, Shikamaru and Choji. Then came her. He walked up to her and grinned.

"Hey, are you ok?" He asked as Ino became breathless, why was she so nervous?

"Yeah, no thanks to you. I could have handled them you know" She said to the new hero.

"Hey, I thought I did a pretty good job!" he shouted causing the platinum blonde to smile.

"Oh Naruto, you always do get riled up so easily." She said smiling.

"I didn't see you out there fighting Ino." said Naruto with a large grin.

"The only reason I.." She was cut off as Naruto embraced her. Her chin on his shoulder as she began blushing. Naruto spoke softly into her ear.

"Hey, I know you would be out there if you could." Ino didn't say a word, she was speechless as her body pressed against his as she began blushing.

"I must say though, I do love that jacket you're wearing? Where'd you get it?" He asked smiling as he pulled away from the embrace.

"Some complete idiot gave it to me. I decided I'd hang on to it for a while." She said giggling.

"Have you asked that idiot if he wanted it back?" asked the new hero of the village.

"I don't really care if he wants it back or not. That idiot turned out to be the village hero, this jacket may be worth some serious money." She said.

"Hey! No way your selling that!" He shouted obviously shocked by the statement.

"Fine, I guess I'll just hold on to it then. Anyways, I wouldn't want that idiot wearing it again. I like his new look a lot better." She said, unable to hold back a smile. This caused Naruto to blush as he began scratching the back of his head

"Well, I still kinda do need my jacket Ino." Said Naruto obviously trying to hide his blush.

"We'll how bout I make you a deal, Mr. Village Hero, how bout we have that talk you promised me and then I'll consider returning it you." she said jokingly as she began to turn away.

"Hmm I guess its a deal! I have the perfect place, how bout we meet at the top of the Hokage Monument at five tomorrow, I'll pack some dinner?" he asked.

Shikamaru looked on in disbelief. His mouth wide open in shock. Was Ino really flirting with Naruto? Where they going on a date? What was going on!?

Ino stopped dead in her tracks. He actually wanted to talk? She never thought he would actually do it now that he was such a hero. Her face turned red as she looked into his cerulean blue eyes.

"Umm… Uh.. Yeah sure, I'll see you then" She said and walked away casually, trying not to show her excitement or blush.

"N..Naruto, are you going on a date.. with her?" Choji asked in a state of disbelief.

"I... guess I am." Naruto said grinning while scratching the back of his head.

"I thought you guys hated each other?" Shikamaru asked, completely shocked about her best friends obvious flirting with the him. He wasn't shallow enough to ask her out after he became the village hero, was he?

"Well you see I was going to the toad mountain to train and master sage mode. Before I was about to leave, she ran me down asking if we could talk. I said I couldn't and she looked really disappointed. It was raining so I gave her my jacket to walk back and promised we would talk when I got back. So I guess what better time then tomorrow." He said continuing to scratch the back of his head.

" Wh….What! I have no clue what just happened!" Shikamaru screamed, while Naruto and Choji laughed.

"Don't worry its fine. Anyways, I'll get Temari to come over here and tend to your wounds." Naruto said laughing causing Shikamaru to blush a little in anger.

"I mean if Naruto's saving the village, you know somethings gotta be wrong!" Kiba shouted at Naruto.

"Hey Kiba, why don't you shut up!" Naruto yelled, obviously flustered.

"I mean, Naruto, I could have easily taken them down. I decided to give you a moment of glory though." Kiba said as Choji laughed. Naruto's face got red as he screamed..

"Shut up Kiba, at least I don't smell like a dog."

"Shut up toad face!" Kiba shouted as everyone around laughed. Joking and laughter continued for the rest of the day.

Ino made a tent that night. As she tried to sleep, she could only think of Naruto. She was extremely nervous for her "Talk" with the new village hero tomorrow. Before she could think anymore she drifted off to sleep after the long day.


	8. Chapter 8

The next day all Ino could do was think about their, "talk" later in the liked to think of it as a date though. She remembered how much she feared for Naruto's safety when he was fighting Pain, and how he saved her life. She concluded that she definitely had feeling for the new village hero. She laughed at the thought that he was still a chunin despite being stronger than almost everyone in the village. Unfortunately since her house was destroyed by the attack, she only had her clothes from the battle and Naruto's jacket. She managed to clean herself off by finding an exclusive river a little outside the village. The day quickly passed as it soon became 5.

"Ino, where are you going" asked her mother as she saw Ino standing with Naruto's jacket on again.

"I've got a date mother." answered Ino, obviously not paying complete attention to her mother as she daydreamed about her upcoming evening.

"A date? At a time like this? I've got a couple of questions for you young lady. Why would you accept a date invitation knowing that you would have to help with repair efforts. Secondly, what ninja seems to be able to skip helping rebuild the village, whoever he is he should be ashamed. Finally, even if you are going on a date, don't where Naruto's jacket." Said the mother, obviously annoyed with her daughter.

"Well MOTHER, the ninja who has time to go on a date at this time is the one who saved it!" Yelled Ino at her mother causing her to gasp.

"I don't care if you don't want me dating a "Jinchuriki" or whatever. I like Naruto a lot so I'm going regardless of if you want me to or not!" This caused Ino's mother to laugh.

"I figured you had a thing for him when you started wearing that jacket. I guess we can't have you turning down the village hero's offer after he just saved us, huh?" She paused as she gave a somewhat shocked Ino a hug. 'How did she know?' Ino thought.

"I don't care who you date, as long as your happy. Personally I think he's quite the catch." said Ino's mother while laughing as a blush appeared on Ino's face.

"Go and have fun Ino, just not too much" She yelled as Ino walked towards the meeting spot causing Ino to laugh and blush a little.

o0o

Ino walked up to the top of the Hokage monument where they agreed to meet. Ino walked up to the top of the Fourth Hokage's head where she saw a blanket laid out with a small basket and a candle. She didn't see anyone as she walked over knowing that it was meant for her. She stood on one end of the blanket wondering where he was. She then felt a quick breeze which caused her to turn around quickly, slightly startled. There stood Naruto with a small grin as he wore his normal orange and black training jacket with a red cape and a giant scroll on his back.

"Listen Uzumaki, next time you ask me out on a date you better be on time, and don't scare me agin." She said slightly annoyed.

"A date? I thought that it was just a talk?" Naruto said as a grin appeared on his face. It was too dark for Naruto to see Ino blush. '_Danmit…I forgot this was just a talk stupid..stupid…stupid. He would never want to go out with me.' _she thought sadly. Naruto could tell this last statement hurt her. Did she think it was a date? Did she want it to? Naruto had thought of Ino throughout his training. He thought about what she wanted to talk about. This brought up the thoughts about her feelings for her. The truth was he didn't know how he felt about her. She was beautiful, he couldn't deny that but she had always been mean to him until recently. This begged the question, did she have feelings for him?

"Hey, why don't we have something to eat." He said softly in that calm voice that made her want to fall into his arms. She nodded and sat down at one end of the blanket. She stared across and saw Naruto opening the basket which contained food. She was wondering why he had the giant toad scroll on his back but she didn't ask.

"Well don't yell at me but I couldn't get much to eat, only rations. I managed to grab some extras." He said obviously feeling bad about this. Even though he didn't know if it was a date or not, he still wanted to show Ino a good time. He looked across and saw her smiling a little. She looked beautiful as always. Her platinum blonde hair in a ponytail while a part of it hung over the right part of her face. She was wearing his jacket but it was unzipped showing her normal purple mini skirt and purple top. He figured that she was in the same position he was in terms of not having any other clothes to wear. He thought he must look like a mess.

"Don't worry about it, I know whats going on." She said, knowing that there wasn't much food to go around. Naruto huffed a sigh of relief as he took out two plates, a loaf of bread, two apples and two easy make ramen. They were already heated so he put the apple, half the loaf of bread and the bowl of ramen on her plate. She smiled and thanked him.

"So Naruto, how does it feel to be the village hero?" Ino asked smiling while Naruto scratched the back of his head.

"Well, I still kind of can't believe it all happened. I mean everyone hated me for so long, as you know." He said as Ino looked to the ground, obviously embarrassed about her actions on their earlier mission.

"Listen Naruto, the reason why I wanted to talk to you was because…." She paused trying to gather her thoughts.

"Because I want to apologize about what I said and going into your mind….. I.. just don't know what came over me. I.. I guess that since we were arguing it just came out without me thinking….. After you… you changed…. I was really scared. But I was also angry because I didn't think I deserved for that to happen to me…. But I did Naruto and I'm so so so sorry for it." She said as she continued to stare at the ground. Obviously regretting her actions.

"Ino, the past is the past, you don't need to apologize for anything. I'm just as responsible for everything that happened." He said as he stared at her. She looked up with a somewhat shocked expression.

"NO NARUTO!" She yelled startling him a little as tears began running down her face.

"Your not responsible for me being a complete jerk when we were younger" As she continue to cry.

"Ino when we were younger I was annoying and" He was cut off by Ino.

"Naruto, don't you dare lie about this like you have throughout your life." She said causing him to pause, he got a little angry over this statement, he didn't lie.

"You go around acting like you're always ok… You hide behind that terribly fake smile of yours Naruto…." Naruto couldn't respond, he knew it was true as he then looked at the ground, trying to avoid here gaze. She knew from all the memories she had seen.

"Naruto… you can't just pretend to be alright all the time. When I was… in your mind I saw all your memories. I know I shouldn't have but what I saw were… were the most painful and saddening things I have ever seen." As tears were now poring out of her eyes.

"How…. How do you just keep going..?" She asked still crying. He looked up as his eyes looked colder and less bright.

"I… I have had a lot of problems that I've had to deal with… as you know. Everyone hated me, I didn't have any parents, I lived by myself as a 8-year-old and I was weak. I didn't have a purpose. As I grew I realized I wanted to be Hokage. You remember me running around screaming'I'm gonna be Hokage, believe it!"." He said laughing a little and causing Ino to as well.

"I want to be Hokage so that everyone accepts and notices me. I went through so many years by myself, alone… and I never want to experience that ever again. As I got older you saw how I began to get friends, Iruka, Sakura, Sasuke, Kakashi, Jiraya and other members of our class. As you've seen in my memories, and in action, I tend to get a bit reckless in combat when my friends are in danger." he said jokingly.

"Yeah I think I've seen it" she said laughing as she began to stop crying.

"Well the reason behind that is… is that once i make a connection or become friends with someone, I never want to lose it because I fear becoming insignificant and loosing my friends. I've already lost pervy sage and… and I don't want to loose another. " He said with a serious expression.

"Naruto…" She said as tears began running down her face again. He stood up and sat down beside put his arm around her. She stopped crying for a second due to her shock and causing her to blush, not that he could tell.

"Ino" he said but she just kept looking the other way and crying.

"Naruto, I don't know how you can stand to be with me, I've been terrible to you. I went into your mind, ignored you, insulted you for as along as I can remember. I shouldn't even be sitting next to someone as great as you. Sakura doesn't have a clue about what she's missing with you." She said continuing to cry. She didn't deserve to be with him, he deserved someone better. She looked away continuing to cry.

"Sakura, doesn't care about me, at least in the way that I care about her, or use to. She's still hung up with Sasuke." The words "use to" hung in her head. Maybe he did care about her.

"Naruto, why do you even bother spending your time with me?" Naruto was shocked by these words. Did she really think he hated her that much.

"Well first off, you have my jacket." he said laughing. She didn't respond, she just kept crying. He then delicately grabbed her chin and turned it so that she was looking him strait in the eyes. Her face began turning red, due to how close her face was to his.

"Ino, why wouldn't I want to spend time with you, your funny, kind, beautiful…" His sentence was cut off as Ino leaned in and kissed him. She kissed him for around 5 seconds and then pulled away. He was completely shocked, Ino just kissed him. Ino pulled away, her face now completely red. She slowly scooted away from him and then began running away.

"INO!" Naruto screamed but she couldn't hear him over her crying. 'I'm such and idiot she thought'. He'll never want to see me again, why would he want me.

o0o

Naruto sat completely still for around 5 minutes until sage mode activated. He needed to find her. Ino, the most beautiful girl in the village just kissed him. He began wondering why she ran away. Was it because he didn't kiss back because he was shocked. He didn't know the answer. He shut his eyes, using sage mode to locate chakra sources around the village. Then he saw Ino's chakra source and it was located just outside the village walls in a small flower patch.

'Why did I kiss him' Ino thought. 'He could do so much better than me, the girl who made him turn into the nine tailed fox'. 'Why did I even think I stood a chance', she thought.

"I'm such an idiot.. he's way too good for me" she whispered to herself. She then felt a breeze behind her and a very familiar voice.

"I wouldn't agree with that. The only reason you could be considered an idiot is thinking that I'm too good for you." whispered Naruto as he placed his arms around her stomach and embraced her.

"N..Naruto, how did you find me?" she asked in a state of shock as she turned around to face him.

"Sage mode lets me find chakra sources so I saw yours and came after you…" He said. He then let go of her and knelt down to her level since she was sitting on a swing.

"Naruto you should just leave your way to good for a …" She was cut off as Naruto leaned in and kissed her on the lips. She kissed him back as she moved his hands around to his back. He placed one of his hands on the side of her face and the other down on her waist. The kiss continued as his tongue wrestled with hers causing her to moan. Naruto pulled back as they both gasped for air.

"Ino don't ever say I'm not good enough for you. If anything, your to good for me. Do you know how many guys would kill to be in the position I'm in now. Making out with funniest, kindest and most beautiful girl in Konoha?" Ino blushed at these comments still in shock about him kissing her.

"I.I thought you liked Sakura." She asked slowly looking away. Using his hand, he again pushed her cheek so that she was looking at him.

"Had I known you had feelings for me, I would have gotten over Sakura a lot earlier. I always thought you were out of my league. I mean look at you, no question your the prettiest girl in the leaf. Plus you can make me laugh, and don't smack as much Sakura does." causing them both to laugh.

"So.. does this mean we're a…couple?" she asked.

"We're whatever you want us to be." He said before he kissed her again. She moved one of her hands up to the front of his chest to feel his toned muscles. She moaned as their tongues wrestled while they kissed. He moved one of his hands down below her ass and the other moved to her cheek and turned it toward her. They both pulled away blushing. Naruto wondered if he was going to fast for her, but she didn't seem to mind. He never really had any experience with a girl before.

"Well...I guess we're a couple... if you really think I'm good enough for you." She asked, obviously still unsure about Naruto's feelings for her. Naruto saw the concern on her face as she began to stare at the ground again. Naruto placed his hand under her chin and lifted it up. Ino's eyes clashed with Naruto's, blue meeting blue.

"Ino, listen to me, I wouldn't want to be with anyone else right now besides you, understand?"

"But..." She was cut off as Naruto kissed her again.

"No buts, you and I are dating now so none of this 'I'm not good enough for you' shit, ok?" Ino nodded her head as a grin appeared on her face. She had finally found a guy who not only thought she was beautiful, but someone who actually cared about her. Ino leaned in and kissed Naruto again as their tongues clashed with each other. They pulled away gasping for air while smiling. Ino hadn't been this happy for a while. She felt like she was on top of the world. As Ino was thinking this she let out a yawn. sill tired from the invasion of Pain. Naruto saw this and became somewhat concerned for his new girlfriend.

"Ino, you tired I'll walk you home." Naruto said as he stood up. Ino was somewhat tired but she wanted to stay with Naruto longer. She grabbed his arm causing her to look back down at her.

"Ino?" Naruto asked, confused about her actions.

"No...I want to stay rite here with you. i wanted to talk with you." She said with eagerness in her voice. Naruto didn't want to disappoint her, plus that sad face she had on made him want to fight every ninja in the world just to make her smile. He sat back down and they began to talk about their childhoods and their pasts. Naruto listened to everything Ino said since he didn't know too much about her. They continued talking for an hour until they stopped and just looked at the stars. They sat there for 15 minutes until he felt Ino's head lean against his. He looked over to see her fast asleep on his shoulder. This caused Naruto to smile. He would have to take her home, but then it hit Naruto. Ino's house was destroyed by the attack. Naruto shrugged, as he let out a yawn. He was also exhausted from his battle and rightfully so. He laid down making sure not to wake Ino up. He slowly placed her down on the ground covered by flowers. He then laid down a short distance away, not sure if she wanted to sleep with him after the first day of their relationship. As he closed his eyes he heard Ino begin to turn around restlessly as she called out for him in her sleep. She started to scream his name, as Naruto crawled over to her to make sure she was okay. When he placed his hand on his hand to make sure she didn't have a fever, she pulled his body next to hers. With her arms wrapped around him he slowly drifted into sleep, feeling the happiest he had felt in months.


	9. Chapter 9

The sun shined early in the morning causing Ino to wake up. As she opened her eyes she found her head rested on Naruto's chest and his arms around her. She smiled and began cuddling with him, causing him to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Ino gazing up at him. He smiled as they laid there for a few minutes. Then a sudden realization hit her.

"SHIT, I didn't tell my parents where I was!" She jumped off bed and began running to find her parents. Naruto smirked seeing Ino in such a panic.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, I've gotta go I'll see you later today." Naruto nodded before going back to sleep. He was exhausted from his fight with Pain, and rightfully so.

Ino walked through her destroyed village. It saddened her to see all the buildings destroyed, especially her family flower shop. Oh well, at least no one died she thought. All thanks to Naruto, she wondered what would have happened if he didn't come, but no matter, no need to think about sad thoughts. As she walked through town she saw her mother and father talking. She figured they would be in a larger panic since they didn't know where she had been all night.

"Mom, Dad, sorry for not coming back. I just fell asleep with my friend." She said as she stared at the ground blushing slightly at the thought of Naruto and her sleeping together. She couldn't tell her parents, they would kill her.

"And who is your friend?" Inoichi asked, obviously angry with what had happened. He already had a pretty good idea of who it was.

"Ummm…Naruto…." Ino said as she closed her eyes, bracing herself for her fathers anger.

"I thought so." Inoichi said chuckling causing Ino to look at him in confusion.

"Wh…WHAT! How'd you know!" Ino yelled, still in shock about how he knew about her sleeping with Naruto. She wondered if he knew everything.

"Simple, I followed you the entire time. Of course Naruto knew, I guess he just chose not to rat me out to you." Inoichi said, laughing.

"What…WHAT THE HELL DAD YOU FOLLOWED ME!" Ino screamed as a tick appeared on her head as Inoichi continued to laugh.

"Oh come on princess, you know I only want to protect you. Of course, he may be the one needing protection from you with all the moves you put on him." he said causing Ino the blush severely.

"Well…well…SHUT UP!" Ino said as she fell to the ground and began crying. As Inoichi immediately stopped his laughter. as he wondered why she was crying. He though everything went well for her with Naruto.

"Ino what's the matter?" Inoichi asked obviously concerned.

"Your rite.. I made all the moves on him…he doesn't even like me." She said sniffling, causing her father to flinch, how could she think this? She had obviously lost some confidence in herself.

"Princess, if he didn't like you he wouldn't have kissed you or ran after you, he obviously cares about you. After all he did let you sleep with him.." Inoichi said with a bit of anger at the end of his sentence.

"Dad, are you ok with me dating Naruto., if he wants to?" She asked as tears began to stop flowing.

"Well lets see, he saved the village, saved half the villages lives, is arguably the strongest ninja in the Leaf and he's kind and intelligent. So..I guess I do approve of him. Speaking of the devil, here he comes." He said smiling. His response caused her to smile. She was happy her dad accepted her possibly having a relationship with the new hero. As she watched Naruto walk down the street, villagers thanked him and greeted him causing him to smile. SHe knew Naruto said they were a couple but she wasn't sure if he really wanted to or if he just wanted to be nice. When she looked back towards her father, he was gone.'Don't follow me this time dad..' she thought.

"Het Ino! Wait…Have you been crying again?" He asked, obviously concerned about her.

'No..I'm fine." She said, wiping the tears from her face.

"Hey if I got you in trouble for sleeping with you I'll go apologize." He said causing Ino to laugh over how concerned he was.

"No Naruto… I'm not in trouble. I was just thinking about…about us and I realized that you should go and find a different girl because I'm just not good enough for.. Trust me you don't have to date me just because you want to be nice..." She was cut off by Naruto grabbing her cheek to make it look him in the eyes. She trembled as she looked into his cerulean eyes.

"Ino shut the hell up with this I'm not good enough for you crap and quit crying, it doesn't suit someone as great as you. I thought I already told you I wanted to do what ever you want to. Do you know why?" He said causing her to shake her head saying no.

"Its because I want to be with you Ino." Said Naruto causing her to blush.

"I was thinking about you this morning and if anything I'm not good enough for you. I'm still a fool and a knuckle head. You are the most beautiful and funny girl in this village." Ino just start at him. She was hypnotized by his words. Did he really think this about her.

"Although you are loud and bossy sometimes.." He said chuckling causing her to pout.

"Naruto, if what you say is true then… then are we really gonna be together?" She asked as she gazed away from his eyes. He then leaned in and kissed her. Ino loved the feeling of her body being against hers. He pulled away smiling.

"I'd like that, thats if your willing to put up with my antics." he said smirking.

"Of course!" She yelled as she jumped into his arms was happier then she'd been in weeks. As Naruto and Ino hugged, Naruto noticed a pink haired kunoichi watching from behind a corner.

* * *

Sorry that the chapters short, but a new one will come out soon, i know this chapter was a little repetitive but its more of a set up chapter for the story. Next time we'll see Sakura's reaction and the rest of the konoha 11, please review!


	10. Chapter 10

Sorry its been a while but heres the next chapter, sorry its kinda short. I put in the reactions but now I'm starting to run out of ideas. Im wondering if I should continue the story with the same events as the manga or go a different route or end the story soon, if you guys could give me reviews with ideas that would be great, thanks.

* * *

Ino walked down the streets of Konoha with a smile plastered across her face. It had been a day since Naruto had agreed to be her boyfriend and she couldn't have been happier about it. No one knew about her relationship with the new toad sage, at least she thought no one did. She really hadn't seen any of her friends besides Naruto since the attack. She'd been helping her parents with rebuilding their home or sleeping. She contemplated what everyone was up to and decided she would go see her friend Sakura. She hadn't seen her since she hugged Naruto when he arrived. The thought made he cringe slightly, Naruto had always loved Sakura and she still thought Naruto might still have some feelings for the pink haired apprentice of the Hokage. No, no, no, she couldn't keep doing this to herself, Naruto agreed to be her boyfriend and had kissed her multiple times, he was two nice a guy to do that to her and then just dump her for Sakura. Ino continued walking until she saw the pink haired kunoichi.

"Hey Sakura, whats up?" Called Ino, excited to finally see her friend again.

"Hey Ino! How've you been?" Called Sakura, knowing that her and Naruto were now together. Sakura was a little saddened by this. By no means did she have feelings for her teammate, but she did love him as a friend. He had become her closest friend since Sasuke left and loved spending time with the jinchuriki.

"I've been great!" Shouted Ino with a large smile across her face. Sakura had a pretty good idea why.

"That's good, any particular reason?" Questioned Sakura who wore a small grin. Ino immediately became curious. Why was she smiling? Then it hit her, 'Crap... she knows!'. A blush appeared on Ino's face as her gaze shifted to the ground.

"Umm, no, no reason." Said Ino quietly, obviously trying to hide something.

"This happiness wouldn't have anything to do with Naruto would it?" Said Sakura as her grin grew at Ino's uncomfortability.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW FOREHEAD!" Screamed Ino, unable to contain herself. She immediately covered her mouth. She just told Sakura Naruto and her were together. Sakura broke out in laughter at Ino's action.

"HAHAHA, you and Naruto? Never thought you would end up with him. Then again, you probably just went for him now that he's the village hero." Said Sakura, trying to get a reaction of her blonde friend. Neither noticed the toad sage sitting atop a tree listening to the conversation.

"NO I DIDN'T!" Screamed Ino, extremely ticked off by the medic's comment, she started liking Naruto before he became the village hero.

"Oh really? Then when did you start liking him?" Asked Sakura with the grin still plastered on her face, she was winning this heated debate.

"I STARTED LIKING HIM WHEN HE SAVED MY LIFE DESPITE HOW MEAN I WAS TO HIM FOREHEAD!" Shouted Ino, causing Sakura to shut up. She remembered Ino carrying Naruto back to the village and how much she changed after that event.

"Clam down Ino-pig, I knew you liked ever since you wore his jacket everywhere. Gosh no need to get so defensive over your man." Said as she winked at Ino causing her to blush.

"Listen Ino, I'm really happy for you, he's a great guy." Said Sakura with a genuine smile. Ino looked up and smiled, happy that her friend was accepting.

"Thank you Sakura, it really means a lot."

"Now you've gotta give me the details about how this happened!" Said Sakura, still smiling. Ino laughed and agreed as they began talking about how they became a couple. Naruto sat atop a branch smiling at the scene of his girlfriend and one time crush getting along well. His face grew stern though, slightly saddened about who he would have to talk to. Hinata had confessed to him during his fight with Pain, and possibly saved her life. The thing was, she simply didn't return the feelings she had for him. Ever since Naruto's training he had thought of his newly acquired girlfriend but had never noticed Hinata. He thought of her as a good friend but didn't like her the same way she liked him. He felt terrible about what he was going to have to tell the girl but it was something he had to do. Naruto returned his vision to Ino and sakura causing him to smile again and then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

0o0

Hinata was sitting near a lake a little outside the walls of Konoha. She couldn't stand to be near the destroyed village, it saddened her too much. However, she was happy with herself for the first time in a while. She had finally confessed to Naruto, something that she had tried to do for years. She didn't care if Naruto didn't return her feelings, she had at least told him how she felt.

"Hey Hinata." Said a voice behind her. She knew that voice, it sent shivers down back, it was Naruto.

"H..Hi N..Naruto" Stuttered Hinata, nervous about being in his presence.

"Hey Hinata, I just wanted to talk to you about what you told me during the fight with Pain." Said Naruto in a serious tone. It sounded sad, which lowered Hinata's spirit.

"O..Ok" Said Hinata, knowing what was about to come.

"First off, than you for saving my life! You really have become a great kunoichi despite how stupid it was to risk your life for mine!" Said Naruto in a joking tone, causing Hinata to laugh.

"I..It was no problem.." Said Hinata smiling.

"Listen though, about what you told me..." Said Naruto in a sad tone, causing Hinata's eyes to begin staring at the ground.

"Hinata, you are one of the most beautiful and kind girls in the village. You are going to become a great clan head for the Hyuga clan and you are a great shinobi and any man would be extremely lucky to be with you." Said Naruto, causing Hinata to smile at his kind words but she knew what was coming next. She looked up to see Naruto struggling to find the rite words to say.

"It's ok Naruto, I know what you're trying to say.." Said Hinata in a sad tone. Naruto's face dropped. He felt terrible about crushing the Hyuga's heart.

"Hinata, I'm really sorry... I just... have feelings for someone else. You really are a great person and I wasn't lying when I said anyone would be lucky to be with you. It's just I had feelings for Ino before I left to train and now we're together." Hinata nodded her head sadly, but she understood what he was saying. She had just waited too long.

"Hinata I consider you to be a really good friend and would still like to. Your one of my precious people and thats why I lost control when I saw you get hurt. I know this is really hard for you and it hurts terribly but if you still want to I would love to be friends." Said naruto with a desperate smile on his face. Hinata looked up at him in the eyes and saw desperation in them. He may not love her but he defiantly cared a great deal about her. A smile appeared on her face as she nodded her head approvingly.

"I..I would like that a lot." Said Hinata with a smile. She still felt sad but not as much as she anticipated. At least she found out that Naruto did care about her and she could spend more time with him now. She knew she would have to move on

"Great!" Said Naruto, happy about how the conversation went. It seemed he hadn't completely destroyed Hinata.

"Listen, I've gotta go Hinata, but how about we hangout soon?" Said Naruto.

"Sure, bye Naruto." Said Hinata with a small smile. As Naruto vanished she stared back out at the lake. She sat with a small smile, happy to finally have gotten her feelings for Naruto off her back. When she looked in naruto's eyes during the discussion she could tell he was telling the truth about his compliments. Sure she felt bad about not being able to be with him, but maybe there was still hope that she could find someone for her.

o0o

After Ino's discussion with Sakura, news of Ino and Naruto's relationship spread like wildfire throughout the village. All of their friend came up to them asking if it was true and how the relationship happened. By the end of the day, both naruto and Ino were exhausted front telling the story to everyone. All their friends seemed happy for them. Shikamaru was in a state of shock about how this could ever happened. Despite him being a genius, not even he could see this coming. Kiba, Chouji and Neji congratulated him. Tenten and even Hinata were happy for Ino. Ino was surprised by Ino's congratulations since she knew she liked Naruto but she thanked her and told her how it happened.

Naruto walked through the streets that were littered with construction of new buildings. He smiled about how much his life had changed since a child. He was accepted by almost everyone and he had found someone who he loved to spend time with. He continued his walk until he wound up in front of his small apartment that Yamato had built for him and walked in. He had a small sleeping bag and crept into it. He looked up at the ceiling thinking of Ino. He had seen her today and they planned to have another date tomorrow night. Naruto figured he would just have her over to his apartment since there was really nowhere else to go. He slowly drifted off to sleep with a small smile on his face.


End file.
